


Three Syllables

by kyjin



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: First Love, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 18:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8856073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyjin/pseuds/kyjin
Summary: Kissing your best friend means something has changed, but what name do you put to it?Ari and Dante discuss what they are now after they confess their feelings.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chiasmus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiasmus/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide! Hope you enjoy this little peek into the boy's relationship post-novel.

There were only a few days of summer left before school, and senior year, began. Junior year felt like eons ago, even though it had only been a few months. But so much had happened, just in the last few days, that it might have happened in another lifetime.

Only a week ago, Dante and I kissed for the very first time. It still hadn’t quite hit me that it had really happened. If you had told me at the beginning of the summer that this was how my friendship with Dante would have evolved, I wouldn’t have believed it. I mean, me and Dante? _Kissing?_ Dante was my best my friend, not my… 

That was part of the problem. We hadn’t yet put a name to what we were now. Not that it really mattered. For all accounts and purposes, not much had changed. We still hung out almost every day together, doing the same things we always did. We’d hang around Dante’s room and read, or more often I’d read and he’d sketch, go out for walks, drive out into the desert, the usual. Our parents certainly knew something had happened, even if they hadn’t commented on it directly. Mom had a certain glint in her eye now whenever I mentioned I was going to hang out with Dante. Dante reported that his mother had been less subtle, reminding Dante to “stay safe.” 

But one thing had changed: I loved kissing Dante. Beyond kissing, simply sitting next to him, maybe just holding hands, looking at each other now and then; that was enough. It sounds like something out of a cheap romance novel, I know, but simply being with Dante was something special. 

We hadn’t really talked about what happened, until now. 

“Mom needs to take me to get new uniforms tomorrow,” Dante said that night, as we lay in the back of the truck. We had driven out to my favorite spot in the desert, far enough from town that it was dark enough for the sky spilled out in fathoms above our heads. We were both looking up at the stars, our fingers tangled in the small amount of space between our bodies.

“You did go through a huge growth spurt since you last went to school out here,” I commented. “I’m glad I don’t have to worry about uniforms. They seem like a pain.”

“They’re not bad, Ari. Means I don’t have to waste time in the morning figuring out what to wear, so I can sleep in a little longer.”

“Even if you did have to find something to wear, you’d sleep to the last possible moment anyway.”

“Fair point. But uniforms make sleeping in even easier.”

I smiled, not commenting further. That was the great thing about hanging with Dante; sometimes we didn’t need to say anything. We could just sit, enjoying each other’s company. 

Now, of course, we could do something else to fill the silence too…

I looked over at Dante. The moonlight reflected back in his eyes as he stared up into the night sky. It was a scene I could never tire of. Dante just looked so happy, so peaceful, out here in the desert. 

My heart jumped loudly in my chest as Dante’s gaze drifted away from the mysteries of the universe above us, looking across the truck at me. The tinge of a smile drifted on his lips. 

“What are you thinking about, Ari?”

I replied with a small smile of my own. “You. Us. This.” I squeezed his hand gently. Dante’s hands weren’t like mine; they were softer, his nails short and well kept. Yet somehow they fit perfectly within my own, almost as if we were always meant to be together. 

“Yeah?” Dante’s soft smile widened, and my heart thumped louder in response. 

“Yeah.” I moved closer to Dante, our noses almost touching as we lay there, side by side. This close, I could make out every nuance of Dante’s face. The soft freckles that were nearly invisible unless you were seeking them out, the small scar above his eyebrow from a long-ago injury, the sweet curves of his lips…

Dante closed the distance between us, his lips meeting mine in a soft kiss. It was short, sweet and gentle, but that was fine. Eventually we’d move on to more. But for now, this was enough.

Our mouths parted ways, and Dante’s eyes met my own again.

“Hey Ari…” Dante said quietly. The words were tinged with a hinted question.

“Yeah? What is it?”

Dante seemed to chew on his words before he spoke. “What are we?”

That was the other thing about Dante: even when I didn’t voice a question, he’d figure out what it was I wanted to ask. It made sense that he’d be wondering the same thing I was.

I paused for only a moment. I didn’t really knew what we were anymore. At least there was a starting point.

“Friends. Best friends. Right?”

“I mean…” Dante looked down, taking a breath. “We’re more than that now, aren’t we?”

The thumping in my chest changed, the beat taking on a new rhythm. “Yeah… I guess. But, that doesn’t change anything. You’re still my best friend, Dante.”

“And you’re mine too! It’s just…” 

Dante didn’t need to say anything; I knew what he was thinking. It was the same thing I’d been thinking about for the last few days. Friends were one thing. It wasn’t like I had any other friends like Dante. Gina Navarro and Susie Byrd were as close as I had to any other friend. And I’d dated… sort of dated, a girl before. But Dante…

“Are we boyfriends, Ari?”

My breath caught in my throat at those words. “Boyfriends?” The word sounded strange on my tongue.

Dante nodded. “Boyfriends.”

God, that sounded strange. Boyfriends. It sounded so… official. One word, only three syllables, yet it held an infinite possibility of meaning in mine and Dante’s future. We’d be more than just friends who cared about each other, more than two boys just fooling around. It meant we were dating. We were a couple.

We were… together.

“Ari?”

I looked over at Dante, who had perched himself on an elbow to look at me. I had never seen him so anxious before, almost as if he were going to jump out of his skin waiting for my answer. Everything in me told me that I should think harder about this, consider the repercussions, if only for a moment. I’d seen first hand what had happened to Dante when he was caught with Daniel. Even if Dante and I were careful, there was a decent chance that something could happen to us as well. Our parents might accept our love, but would everyone else?

But then the words of my father ran through my mind.

_You’re in love with him. I think you love him more than you can bear._

I’d hesitated too long already with loving my best friend. We only had a year left in this town together. Who knew where our lives would take us once we graduated from high school? Dante was smart; he would probably get into any college he wanted at the drop of a hat. I knew my parents expected the same as me, but what were the chances that Dante and I would end up at the same place? Even then, Dante might meet someone else, someone he cared about more than me. 

There are no guarantees in life, no way of knowing what way the universe will take in shaping our destinies. It was a miracle that Dante even met last summer and built the friendship that we have. It was a miracle that we both fell in love with each other…

Dante was still staring at me, emotions running rampant on his face. But they softened, a smile growing on his face as I smiled back and quietly responded. 

“Boyfriends.”

Dante moved at an incredible speed as he embraced me, burying his face in my shoulder. I pulled him close as he whispered the word over and over again in my ear.

“Boyfriends. Boyfriends. _Boyfriends_.”

With a gentle hand I lifted his head, his eyes meeting mine. His eyes twinkled as our lips met in a sweet kiss.

We didn’t need to tell anyone what we were. People could assume what they liked. We now had a word to describe our relationship, at least to each other. Personally, I didn’t even need that.

When school started and Gina and Susie started to berate me about what I had been up to, I’d just smile and let them guess. So what if they figured it out? Who cares what they thought?

I had Dante. I didn’t need anyone else.


End file.
